TCP/IP Tutorial and Technical Overview - IBM Redbooks

– EXPUNGE: Permanently removes all messages from the currently
selected mailbox that were previously marked as deleted. This does not
close the currently selected mailbox, nor does it remove the client from the
selected state.
– SEARCH criteria: Search the mailbox for messages that match the
specified criteria.
– FETCH item message: Retrieve the specified item associated with a
message. Item can be a single thing, or a list of things.
– STORE item message: Store the specified item with the associated
message in the mailbox.
– COPY message mailbox: Copies the specified message to the end of the
specified destination mailbox.
– UID name arguments: Returns the unique identifier instead of message
sequence numbers. This command is used with other commands.
Server responses
The IMAP4 server’s responses exist in three forms:
► Status
► Server data
► Command continuation requests
Depending on the message, these responses might or might not be tagged.
Status responses
Valid status response include:
OK This response provides the client with information. If tagged, this
indicates that a client command has completed successfully.
NO This response indicates that an operational error has occurred
on the server. If tagged, it indicates that a client command did not
complete successfully.
BAD This response provides an error message from the server. If
tagged, the response is reporting a protocol-level error within a
client’s command.
596 TCP/IP Tutorial and Technical Overview
Note: Many of the IMAP commands, including CREATE, RENAME,
FETCH, STORE, SEARCH, and APPEND have been extended by RFC
4466 to use the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) syntax. This
does not change the structure of the command, but only the manner in
which the command is represented.